Someone else here pointed out a study showing levels of fiscal responsibility in government being higher when the Congress and Presidency aren't in the same party, at least in recent decades. I've looked at this a lot since then, and it seems to hold some water.

This may not be the exact paper that was quoted back then, but it's close enough. The second half is primarily opinions, and you can take or leave them.

The trick seems to be a Republican Congress and a Democratic president. This combination has not come up very often.

Of course, this is a limited data point. If I thought the Congress had a good shot at going solidly Republican again (I don't think it does), purely from an economic standpoint, it would be interesting to see that combination again in 2008. Of course, there's a lot more going on right now than economics, and I'm not going to be voting for Hillary.

In short, government governs best, that governs least. And gridlock seems to be one way to accomplish that.